Items Similar to 'The Modest Rose' — 1970s Erotic Surrealism
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 3
Hans Bellmer'The Modest Rose' — 1970s Erotic Surrealism1971
1971
About the Item
Hans Bellmer, 'The Modest Rose', engraving and drypoint, edition 99, 1971. Signed and numbered '99/99' in pencil. A fine, richly-inked impression, on Arches cream wove paper; the full sheet with wide margins (2 7/8 to 5 3/4 inches), in excellent condition. Archivally sleeved, unmatted.
Image size 11 3/4 x 9 7/16 inches (298 x 240 mm); sheet size 22 1/4 x 15 inches (565 x 381 mm).
Engraving and drypoint after Hans Bellmer by Cécile Reims. Published by Editions Les Heures claires, Paris.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Hans Bellmer (1902–1975) was a photographer, sculptor, writer, and painter associated with the Surrealist movement. Born in Katowice, Poland, Bellmer was coerced by his overbearing father into working at a steel factory and a coal mine, even after passing university entrance exams. He began studies in engineering at the Technische Hochschule in Berlin but left to pursue his interest in art and politics. Bellmer became close to George Grosz, one of his drawing instructors, whose critical perspective on society strongly influenced Bellmer’s studies and interests.
In 1924, Bellmer worked as a book printer and illustrator at Malik Verlag, where he demonstrated his artistic ability, contributing drawings to Dadaist novels. In the late 1920s, Bellmer began traveling, visiting France, Italy, and Tunisia.
Bitterly opposed to the rise of Fascism and the Nazi regime in the early 1930s, he stopped working in protest, refusing to support the state. Partly influenced by Jacques Offenbach’s (1819-1880) final opera, The Tales of Hoffmann, where the hero falls in love with a realistic life-size mechanical doll, Bellmer built his first Doll in 1933-4. An articulated construction of wood, plaster, metal rods, nuts, and bolts representing a young girl, it embodied qualities of the archetypal surrealist object: coupled attraction and aversion, subversion and eroticism, sadism and fetishism.
Bellmer photographed the doll in a series of erotic postures, publishing a collection of 10 of these images, accompanied by text, as 'Die Puppe' in 1934. He submitted a group of his photographs to the Parisian Surrealist magazine 'Le Minotaure', the publication of which confirmed his place as an innovator within the Surrealist movement. Bellmer’s dolls (one of which he made with a large, bulbous abdomen and two hinged pelvises) often appear fragmented and mangled as though appendages had been detached and rearranged. They are simultaneously naturalistic and surreal, evoking emotional responses from recognition and excitement to anxiety and revulsion.
Bellmer moved to Paris in 1938 and continued to create his uniquely sensitive, provocative works featuring the themes of the subconscious, dreams, sexuality, lust, and death. His first solo exhibition was in 1943 at the bookstore Librairie Trentin in Toulouse, France. Bellmer’s work has since been shown in various museums and galleries worldwide, including the Whitechapel Gallery in London, the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, and The Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Bellmer's graphic works are held in numerous museum collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago; The Cleveland Museum of Art; The Israel Museum, Jerusalem; The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Minneapolis Institute of Art; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Museum of Modern Art; Portland Art Museum; Princeton University Art Museum; and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
- Creator:Hans Bellmer (1912 - 1975, German)
- Creation Year:1971
- Dimensions:Height: 11.75 in (29.85 cm)Width: 9.44 in (23.98 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Myrtle Beach, SC
- Reference Number:
Hans Bellmer
Surrealist German artist Hans Bellmer produced images of contorted, disfigured or bound forms of usually pubescent women in drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures. He is best known for creating life-sized dolls and disassembled mannequins and used his art to explore themes of sexuality, lust and death as well as to express his viewpoints on politics and society, work through his own traumas and comment on Freudian psychoanalytic principles.
Bellmer was born in Katowice, Germany. He and his brother lived in constant fear of their stern father who showed the boys little affection. Childish play was forbidden by his cold father. Even though he passed university entrance exams, his father insisted that he work in factories and coal mines instead of furthering his education. His father did eventually agree to allow Bellmer to enter the engineering program at the Berlin Polytechnic but his true passion was art.
In 1924, Bellmer quit school and became an illustrator and advertising designer for a left-wing publishing house. Upon discovering Dadaism, he associated with artists such as John Heartfield and George Grosz and attended lectures at the Bauhaus art school. As fascist politics took hold around him — Bellmer was living in Berlin when Hitler came to power, and his own father became a Nazi — he was compelled to create art that reflected his anger and inner turmoil.
Capitalizing on the manifesto of Surrealist André Breton that called for words to be cut up and rearranged, he created a series of mannequins, dressed as children’s dolls, that explored his own erotic obsessions and abusive relationships around him. With like-minded German artist Unica Zürn, Bellmer collaborated on related works that examined bondage and eroticism for 15 years.
Many of Bellmer’s works can be found in public collections around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco, the International Center of Photography in New York and the British Museum in London.
On 1stDibs, find authentic Hans Bellmer prints and other art on 1stDibs.
About the Seller
5.0
Recognized Seller
These prestigious sellers are industry leaders and represent the highest echelon for item quality and design.
Platinum Seller
These expertly vetted sellers are 1stDibs' most experienced sellers and are rated highest by our customers.
Established in 1995
1stDibs seller since 2016
256 sales on 1stDibs
Typical response time: 1 hour
Associations
International Fine Print Dealers Association
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Myrtle Beach, SC
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 7 days of delivery.
More From This SellerView All
- 'Mokihana (Hawaii)' — 1940s Polynesian PortraitLocated in Myrtle Beach, SCJohn Melville Kelly, 'Mokihana (Hawaii)', drypoint, 1946. Signed, titled, and annotated 'No 5' in pencil. A superb, finely nuanced impression, in dark brown ink, on cream wove Japan ...Category
1940s American Modern Nude Prints
MaterialsDrypoint
- The SerenadeBy Louis LegrandLocated in Myrtle Beach, SCA superb, richly-inked impression, with skilfully wiped plate tone and burr in the drypoint, printed in dark sepia ink on cream laid paper, with the Louis LeGrand watermark in the bo...Category
1890s Post-Impressionist Nude Prints
MaterialsDrypoint, Etching, Aquatint
- Kanani (Hawaii)— 1940s Polynesian PortraitBy John Melville Kelly 1Located in Myrtle Beach, SCJohn Melville Kelly, 'Kanani (Hawaii)', drypoint, 1946. Signed, titled and annotated 'No 36' in pencil. A superb impression, in dark brown ink, on ...Category
1940s American Modern Nude Prints
MaterialsDrypoint
- The Drunkard in Spring —after Gustav Mahler's 'The Song of the Earth'Located in Myrtle Beach, SCArthur Paunzen, 'Der Trunkene im Frühling' (The Drunkard in Spring) from the suite 'Song of the Earth', etching, aquatint, and drypoint, 1920. Signed and titled in pencil. Signed in the plate, lower right. A fine, richly-inked impression, on cream, wove Japan paper; the full sheet with margins (2 1/4 to 4 1/4 inches), in good condition. Image size 12 3/8 x 9 1/8 inches; sheet size 19 5/8 x 13 5/8 inches. Matted to museum standards, unframed. ABOUT THIS WORK Pauzen’s suite of six etchings 'Das Lied von der Erde' (The Song of the Earth), published in 1920, was inspired by Gustav Mahler...Category
1920s Vienna Secession Figurative Prints
MaterialsEtching, Drypoint, Aquatint
- 'Vague Lumineuse' (Luminescent Wave) — Late 19th Century SurrealismLocated in Myrtle Beach, SCThéophile Pierre Wagner, 'Vague Lumineuse' (Luminescent Wave), lithograph, edition not stated but small, c. 1895. Signed and titled in pencil. Initialed in the stone, lower left. A f...Category
1890s Surrealist Nude Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Surrealist Abstraction IIBy Gerome KamrowskiLocated in Myrtle Beach, SCGerome Kamroski, Untitled 'Surrealist Abstraction', drypoint, 1946, edition 28 (editioned in 1996). Signed, dated '1946, ed 1996", and numbered '7/28' in pencil. A fine impression, ...Category
1940s Surrealist Abstract Prints
MaterialsDrypoint
You May Also Like
- AphroditeBy Salvador DalíLocated in New York, NYA very good, richly-inked impression of this Drypoint and aquatint printed in gray and black on cream wove paper. Signed, dated and numbered 20/150 by Dali. Printed by Robbe, Paris. ...Category
1960s Surrealist Abstract Prints
MaterialsDrypoint
- Nude with Veils ( Nu aux Voilettes) Salvador Dali Original Engraving 1975By Salvador DalíLocated in Paonia, CONude with Veils ( Nu aux Voilettes ) portrays a female nude with long hanging breasts, a crutch instead of a head and a veil streaming off the top of the crutch with the left ar...Category
1970s Surrealist Nude Prints
MaterialsEngraving
- Ernst Fuchs Sphinx Mystagoga Surreal Color Etching Vienna Fantastic Realism 1967By Ernst FuchsLocated in Meinisberg, CHErnst Fuchs (Austrian, 1930 - 2015) The Sphinx Mystagogo Sheet Nr. 6 from the Folio “Die Sieben Bilder und Sprüche der Sphinx”, published in Autumn of 1967 by Galerie Sydow in Frankfurt, Germany. • Aquatint Etching • Ed. 79/99 • Sheet ca. 59 x 41.5 cm • Plate signed • Signed & numbered by the artist in pencil Worldwide shipping is complimentary - There are no additional charges for handling & delivery. Ernst Fuchs was an Austrian painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor, architect, stage designer, composer, poet, and one of the founders of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism. I discovered him through H.R. Giger ‘s work, who himself was greatly inspired by the creations of Fuchs and on several occasions exhibited his friend ‘s art in his museum, the Château St-Germain, Gruyères, Switzerland. I actually own the original folio box...Category
1960s Surrealist Abstract Prints
MaterialsPaper, Ink, Aquatint, Etching
- Centaurs signed #2/20 Paula Craioveanu Photograph 20x16in in mat 28x20inBy Paula CraioveanuLocated in Forest Hills, NYUNDER THE SKIN 5 Surreal Nude, part of my "Under the Skin" series. Printed on Hahnemuhle art photo paper with white borders, size is 20x16in. In mat overall size 28x20in. This par...Category
2010s Surrealist Nude Prints
MaterialsPhotographic Paper
- UNDER THE SKIN 3 signed #20/20 by Paula Craioveanu Surreal Nude PhotographyBy Paula CraioveanuLocated in Forest Hills, NYUnder the Skin #3 Surreal Nude, part of my "Under the Skin" series. Printed on Hahnemuhle art photo paper with white borders, size is 12.5x12.5in. This particular one is signed and...Category
2010s Surrealist Nude Prints
MaterialsPhotographic Paper
- PICTOPOETRY 4 signed #20/20 by Paula Craioveanu Photograph 20x16in in mat 28x20iBy Paula CraioveanuLocated in Forest Hills, NYSurreal Nude, part of my "Pictopoetry" series. Printed on Hahnemuhle art photo paper with white borders, overall size 20x16in. This particular one is signed and numbered 20 of 20 (e...Category
2010s Surrealist Nude Prints
MaterialsPhotographic Paper
